St Margaret Ward strengthen Philippines ties

On Wednesday December 15th, 2021, St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy, Stoke, connected virtually for Mass with the De La Salle Santiago Zobel School in the Philippines as part of an ongoing Cross-Culture Ambassadors programme.

Students involved had already shared presentations about where they come from and completed pen pal activities to learn about the different cultures of each school.

The night before, students from St Margaret Ward took part in a ‘Santa Dash’ fun run, raising money for the Haven for Children Orphanage in the Philippines connected with the DLSZ School. Well over 100 students took part raising over £250, the event was a great success and brought together students from across the school community to have fun, keep fit and support an important cause as a community. The fun run was offered at three levels of difficulty (Bronze, Silver and Gold) and almost all students opted to take the hardest challenge and succeeded in reaching the Gold level of difficulty.

Mass was then celebrated the following day in the Philippines which students from St Margaret Ward connected with, sharing readings and prayers. It was wonderful to connect and celebrate the Mass together from across the world, and while it marks the end of the first phase of the programme, we are all very excited to see how the partnership continues and relationships between cultures deepens.